Spryte's Place

Mississippi Mud Pie ~ Dark & Decadent

2012-02-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

This recipe is for hardcore dark chocolate fans.

If you just kinda like chocolate... this will probably be too much for you! Even it you love chocolate, this might be too much for you!

Proceed at your own risk!

This cake definitely does not go together quickly, but I think it's totally worth the time. I did it in one day, but I think doing it in two would have been better.

I found this on Bake Me Blush. You should definitely check it out. Nicole has some great recipes there!

Mississippi Mud Pie

Crust:
16 ounces chocolate sandwich cookies (35-40 cookies) such as Oreos, crushed
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Flourless Chocolate Cake:
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
6 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (60-70%), chopped
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/4 cup strong coffee, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Chocolate Pudding:
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 ounces good-quality dark chocolate (60-70%)

To Make Crust:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Lightly spray a 9-inch springform pan with nonstick cooking spray.
In a food processor, grind cookies to a very fine crumb; you should have about 3 1/2 cups. Put crumbs in a small bowl. Pour melted butter over crumbs and mix with a spatula until well combined.
Press crumb mixture into bottom and sides of prepared pan, leaving about 1/2 inch between top of crust and top of pan. Smooth evenly with the back of a spoon.
Let crust set in freezer for 10 minutes. Bake in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Cool.

To Make Flourless Chocolate Cake:

Increase oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Using a double boiler or microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Set aside to cool.
In a small bowl, whisk together espresso powder, coffee, salt, and vanilla. Set aside.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat eggs with 1/2 cup of the sugar until mixture is light and almost doubled in volume, about 5 minutes. Add chocolate mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl; mix on low for 5 seconds. Add coffee mixture and beat until just combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl; mix on low for 5 seconds.
In a clean bowl with a whisk attachment or electric mixer, beat the egg whites until foamy. Gradually increase speed to high and add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating until soft peaks form.
Scoop 1 cup of the egg whites into chocolate mixture. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold in egg whites. After about 30 seconds of folding, add remaining egg whites and continue folding until almost completely combined; work gently and do not overmix.
Pour batter onto cooled cookie crust and bake for 38 to 42 minutes or until cake is set but still jiggles slightly; it may not appear to be completely cooked. Allow to cool completely. Cake will deflate in center and look sunken as it cools. Tightly wrap and refrigerate cake for at least 3 hours or overnight.

To Make Chocolate Pudding:

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt. Add egg yolks and whisk until combined. Whisking constantly, slowly pour in milk.
In a saucepan over medium heat, bring mixture to a boil, whisking constantly to prevent burning. Boil for 30 seconds; transfer mixture to a medium bowl.
Add butter, vanilla, and chocolate; whisk until combined. Continue whisking for a few more minutes to slightly cool mixture. Let pudding stand for 15 minutes at room temperature. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly onto pudding's surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for at least 3 hours.

To Assemble Pie:

Stir pudding to loosen it, then pour it on top of cake, staying inside crust border. Use a spatula to spread pudding into an even layer. Return mud pie to refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Decorate with whipped cream if desired.

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Ok... first to make the crust.

You'll need a package of these...

Crush them in the food processor...

Melt the butter...

Combine butter & cookie crumbs...

Pour the cookie crumb & butter mixture into a greased spring form pan...

Press into pan and up to within half an inch of the top of the pan...

Put crust into the freezer for 10 minutes to set. Then bake in oven, preheated to 300F, for 10 minutes. Let crust cool.

Turn the oven up to 350F. Time to make the Flourless Chocolate Cake.

First your Dark Chocolate. I chose a 60%...

Melt 6oz of the chocolate with butter...

Set aside to cool...

Next whisk together espresso powder, coffee, salt, and vanilla; set that aside too...

In a mixer, whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 C of sugar for about 5 minutes...

Add chocolate and beat until just combined...

I have no idea why this looks so red!

Anyway... next... in a clean bowl...

Beat the egg whites until they're foamy...

Slowly add the remaining 1/2 C of sugar and beat until soft peaks form...

Scoop a cup of fluffy egg whites into the chocolate mixture and gently fold in...

Gently fold in the remaining egg whites until just combined...

Pour batter into cooled cookie crust...

Bake for 38 - 42 minutes or until cake is set up still jiggly in the middle... it might not look completely cooked...

Now let that cool completely. It will sink in the middle as it cools. Wrap it tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or overnight.

I chose 3 hours... but I think next time, I'd leave it overnight and stop for the day after making the pudding.

Ok... now to make the pudding!

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, and salt...

Add egg yolks...

Whisk until combined...

While whisking constantly, slowly pour in the milk...

Over medium heat, bring it to a boil and keep whisking so it doesn't burn. Boil for 30 seconds and transfer mixture to a bowl.

Add butter, vanilla & chocolate...

Mix until everything is melted together and well combined...

Let it stand for about 15 minutes to cool. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Press the wrap onto the top of the pudding, because nobody like pudding skin... ok... maybe some people like it, but personally, it grosses me out!

Now refrigerate the pudding for 3 hours or overnight. This is a good time to clean the kitchen and call it day!

Ok... so the next day... or three hours later if you're ambitious...

Time to assemble the cake...

Give the pudding a stir to loosen it up bit... then pour it onto the cake, being careful to stay inside the crust edge.

Spread it around to even it out...

Now back into the fridge, for at least 30 more minutes...

Now you can slide it out of the spring form pan...

Look at those gorgeous chocolaty layers...

Now if I hadn't made this cake all in one day, I might have been inclined to decorated it with homemade whipped cream piped through a star tip. Actually, that was my intent. But I made this on Christmas Eve day in between delivering Christmas Cookies and wrapping presents... so I think I was pretty lucky just to get the cake made and ready for Christmas Eve dessert.

So it got a quick squirt of canned whipped cream and I called it done!

Now in my house Jon & Bob have both been asking for Chocolate Cream Pie. I think I knew this might be too chocolaty for Bob, but hoped that the whipped cream would make him like it. It was way too chocolaty for him. Lilly loves dark chocolate, but this was too much for her too. Jon also loves dark chocolate and he really liked it, as did Tawny's boyfriend, Ryan. Too chocolaty for Tawny... and since I don't care for chocolate in general, it was WAY too chocolaty for me.

So like I said at the beginning, you really have to be a hardcore dark chocolate fan to love this pie. That being said, I might try it again with milk chocolate. I think then it would really satisfy all the chocolate lovers in my house.

But more to my taste... I think I'd like to try Nicole's Whiteout Cake. That looks scrumptious!!

Orange Cranberry Bread

2011-11-21T14:31:00.000-05:00

I love Orange Cranberry Bread and Muffins. Tangy, tart and fresh. A perfect start to the day!

I found this on allrecipes.com.

Orange Cranberry Bread (slightly adapted)
4 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon grated orange zest
12 oz fresh cranberries
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cup white sugar
2 egg
1 1/2 cup orange juice

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease & flour two 9x5 loaf pans or line them with parchment paper.

Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Add orange zest and orange juice. Mix well.

In separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir flour mixture into orange juice mixture, until just combined. Fold in cranberries and nuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pans.

Bake at 350F for 50 - 60 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream together butter & sugar & eggs.

Add orange juice.

And orange zest.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Stir into orange mixture until just combined.

(it did get a little more stirred before I added the cranberries & nuts)

Fold in cranberries & nuts.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pans and bake at 350F for 50 - 60 minutes; or until pick comes out dry.

That's it!

This was wicked good! A nice bright, tart, tangy flavor and very moist. I've been dying for Orange/Cranberry baked goodies and this totally satisfied that craving!

I like that it makes two loaves. One to eat and one to share (or to throw in the the freezer for later!) I brought the extra loaf to work and it got very favorable reviews! I also like that it uses the whole bag of fresh cranberries.

This is definitely a keeper!!

Lamb Meatball Curry

2011-11-14T13:49:00.001-05:00

I found this recipe while browsing TasteSpotting. It's from the Cookin' Canuck blog.

Lamb is something I'm not very experienced with and I'm not entirely sure I like it. Well, sometimes I LOVE it!! But other times it's a little too, umm... I don't know... lamby...

I love lamb kebobs from Baba D's, and gyros... but other than that... I've never really eaten it. And even when eating the kebobs that I really do love, there's a touch of an under-flavor that I'm not wild about.

Anyway. I saw this recipe and decided that I wanted to make it.

This is also my first from scratch curry. I've made plenty of curry recipes before, but they all have included an ingredient with 'curry' in the name. This recipe has no such ingredient! Yay me!

Lamb Meatball Curry

for the meatballs

1 1/2 lbs ground lamb
1 tbsp minced green chili
1 tbsp ginger garlic paste (I just grated ginger & garlic)
1 cup boiled and mashed potatoes
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
Salt
for curry sauce
1 cup chopped onion paste
1 1/2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1 1/2 cups tomato puree
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tbsp garam masala
1 1/2 tbsp coriander powder
1 1/2 tbsp kasuri methi (fenugreek leaves)
1/3 cup cashews (blanched and turned into a paste*)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
Salt

Mix all meatball ingredients. Form into meatballs. Mine were about 1.5 inches. Place meatballs on baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to a day.

Preheat oven to 400F. Bake meatballs for 20 minutes.

For the sauce... heat ghee & oil in a thick bottom pot. Add onion, ginger and garlic paste and cook them until all the liquid in the paste evaporates. Stir frequently, cook slowly on medium heat.

When the paste turns golden brown add cumin powder, salt, turmeric, cayenne pepper and coriander powder. When you add the dry ingredients it starts to burn quickly so stir it all together to mix well and add tomato puree.

Cook the puree until the sauce begins to thicken.

Then add cashew paste and cream, and cook some more. You will see oil on the edges then add garam masala and kasuri methi (fenugreek).

Mix it together and throw in all the meatballs (also the drippings in the baking dish).

Turn the heat to low, cover the pan with a lid and let it cook for a nice 6-8 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok... so make mashed potatoes for the meatballs. This would be a really good use for leftover mashies. I've never used mashed potatoes as a binder before and I have to say, I'm a fan.

Mix up all of the meatball ingredients

Roll into meatballs.

Cover with plastic wrap and into the fridge!

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Bake the meatballs for 20 minutes.

Now to make the sauce.

I ground my cashews, but they didn't really turn to a paste. It was kind of powdered, but it could pinch it back together. It seemed to work out fine.

So, heat ghee & oil, add onion, ginger & garlic paste.

Cook slowly, stirring frequently.

I was afraid of burning it and stopped short of golden... but I did get the excess moisture evaporated.

Fragrant bowl of spices.

Into the pot!

Plus tomato sauce.

Cook until it starts to thicken.

Add cashews & cream.

Cook some more and add fenugreek & garam masala and stir.

Now add your beautiful cooked meatballs plus any drippings to the sauce.

Gently stir them in, until everything is well coated and simmer for 6 - 8 minutes.

Now they're ready to enjoy!!

I served them over couscous.

They were really tasty. I loved the sauce. There was that lambyness... that I'm still not sure that I love. Jon enjoyed these too.

Would I make them again? I think if I used half beef/half lamb I would have enjoyed them more.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins

2011-10-28T12:00:00.001-04:00

The weather is finally cool... really cool... we might get snow tonight!! I know that makes lots of you groan... but I'm wicked psyched!! I LOVE snow!!

Tonight

Mostly cloudy. A chance of snow after midnight. Snow accumulation around an inch possible. Lows around 30. East winds around 5 mph. Chance of snow 50 percent.

I love seeing that little snow icon in my weather window! This is my favorite time of year!

It gets dark early... I can't wait to go back to standard time... it's cold and the chance for snow! What makes those nights even more perfect?

Baking something delicious of course!!

Ok... well... enough with the weather report!

I know I've mentioned before how much I love Penzey's. This recipe is from the Thanksgiving 2011 catalog, page 37.

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins
1/2 C butter, softened
1 C brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 C plain pumpkin puree, (I used fresh)
1/4 C evaporated milk
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp powdered ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1 2/3 flour

Streusel topping:
2 TBLS flour
2 1/2 TBLS white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 TBLS butter

Preheat oven to 375F.
Cream together butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg. Mix pumpkin with evaporated milk and mix in with butter/sugar mixture. In a separate bowl whisk together, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into pumpkin batter, until just combined. Don't over stir.

Spoon into 12 standard sized, greased or lined muffin cups.

In a small bowl combine streusel topping ingredients with a fork until the topping is about the size of small peas. Sprinkle evenly over muffins and bake for 18 - 22 minutes at 375F.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cream together butter and brown sugar.

Beat in egg.

Mix pumpkin with evaporated milk and add to butter/sugar mixture.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt & spices.

Stir flour mixture into pumpkin mixture, until just combined.

Fill prepared muffin cups.

Mix up streusel topping.

Sprinkle evenly over muffins.

Bake at 375F for 18 - 22 minutes.

These came out wicked good!!!

Moist, tender muffins... with the sweet, buttery, cinnamony streusel topping...

The streusel topping really puts these muffins over the top!

SO GOOD!!!

I made these for a staff meeting at work. Everyone said they really liked them! I also gave one to my morning bus driver and a lady who gets off at the same stop as me every day. They both also told me how much they loved them!

This recipe is definitely a keeper! If you try no other pumpkin recipe this fall, try this one!! You definitely won't be disappointed!

Happy Birthday Chica... and a review...

2011-10-24T02:09:00.002-04:00

Today my baby girl is 19 years old! The time has certainly flown by. It seems like just yesterday she was born. It was the wee hours of the morning and I didn't sleep at all after her arrival. I couldn't take my eyes off of her. She was perfect. I had never known I could love someone so much, until that very moment.

I asked Tawny what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday this year. She requested an almond flavored cake, that was decorated with bright pink and bright lime green. That was actually the same cake she requested last year. But last year, I had a hard time tinting the frosting and instead of bright colors, ended up with something more suited to a baby shower. She gave me a do-over.

Even though she requested that cake, I knew she loved those big cupcake shaped cakes. You know the ones... they look like a big cupcake!

Anyway... I needed to buy a pan.

This pan.

I could only find this at Michael's, since I waited until the last minute to buy one... but they wanted $35 for it!!! I could buy it for $20 on Amazon... AND get free shipping. I was really bummed about such a big price difference. But I was shopping with my friend Erin, and this caught her eye!!

Edible Cake Tattoos??!!! And in fun brightly colored animal prints!!! Those would be PERFECT!!!

They're by Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes at Charm City Cakes.

Duff has a whole line of stuff to make cool cakes at home! He has loads of Buttercream Fondants, Fondant Cutters, all kinds of Decorating Icings and Gels and Flavored Sprinkles, plus lots of other cool cake stuff. The clerk at Michael's even said that Duff's buttercream fondant is totally yummy... unlike that Wilton fondant.

I would definitely be considered a cake novice and honestly, was a bit nervous that I couldn't make the cake look cool, even with step by step decorations. But I knew Tawny would think this cake was awesome... so I decided to give it try.

For this cake, I had to bake two 8 inch cakes and two 6 inch cakes.

I opened the Edible Cake Tattoo package and this is what was inside.

They almost looked like fabric strips.

Time to frost the cakes.

Remember, when it comes to cakes, I'm definitely a novice. This time, I decided the cakes were flat enough to just use as is... but the next time I try this, I'd definitely trim the cakes so they were flat. I did trim one of the 6 inch layers. But I was worried if I trimmed the cakes, I'd need to trim the tattoos and I wasn't sure if I'd end up just making a huge mess.

I definitely could have trimmed them, the tattoos would have fit and after working with them, I feel pretty confident I could have easily trimmed them, without making a mess, if needed.

Place the tattoos on the cake.

They go on very easily. You do have to be gentle with them, because they will tear easily, but not so easily, if that makes sense.

There's a white border around each tattoo where the print ends. On white frosting, it totally blends in. But where the seams meet, you'll want to trim it down to the print, so you can't see the seams on the cake.

Tattoos applied!

Time for decoration. I used Duff's Icing Pouches.

The consistency of these pouches was a little thinner than I would have liked. Also, it was impossible to get the first two or three inches of icing that came out of the pouch mixed. So you definitely don't want to start out directly on the cake.

Once I got the feel of it, it was ok. But I think next time, I'd make my own icing, so I could control the thickness. Actually... only if I can get those vivid colors. I have a REALLY hard time with that. Plus, with my own frosting, I could use a much wider variety of decorating tips. I have a pretty nice set of tips, but you can also get a pretty nice set from Duff!

With my slightly rounded cakes... and trying to get the hang of the thinner than I like icing... this is what I ended up with.

I think it's a pretty decent likeness... especially for someone who just doesn't have much experience with cake decorating.

It's hard to tell in the picture... but those are zebra, tiger and giraffe candles. I found them over the summer and knew I would use them on Tawny's birthday cake. They just happened to fit in perfectly!

So how does all of this stuff taste you ask?

Not bad at all!

Well... I tried some of the extra tattoo when I trimmed it. By itself, it almost doesn't taste like anything. Everyone liked the pink icing from the icing pouch. I didn't try Duff's cake mix or butter cream icing.

I was a little worried that while cutting the cake, the tattoos would kinda drag and pull, but they sliced perfectly. And when they adhere to the frosting, you really don't even notice any tattoo taste or texture. They kinda become part of the frosting. They're pretty cool!

I have to say I'm very excited about Duff's line of cake decorating products. Stay tuned for Spryte's Adventures in Fondant... coming to a computer screen near you...

As for you Tawny.

Happy Birthday bonita chica! You have grown into a lovely, talented, strong young woman, who is loved very very much. I'm so proud of you. I love you pretty girl!! Happy Birthday!! Love, Mom ♥

Crescent Chili Cheese Dog Boats

2011-10-12T16:13:00.000-04:00

So it was October 4... but my kitchen calendar was still on September.

I bought some crescent rolls over the weekend and had planned to make these, just not on a stick.

Bob was walking through the kitchen and said, "mum, you should make those, but without the rolls" I told him that I was making them... but with the rolls, just no sticks. Weird that he'd ask for them on the day I planned to make them. I hadn't mentioned my dinner plan to anyone.

Then Jon happened through the kitchen and said that I should make those but add chili. Again, weird, because I didn't tell anyone what I was making.

Oh! That sounded really good!!

It's usually a 50/50 guess if Bob will want chili on a chili dog and that day, he passed and asked if he could just have hotdogs with cheese.

Lilly is eating a vegetarian plus fish diet these days, so they didn't fit the bill for her either.

Tawny is away at school. She probably would have had one, but would have asked if I'd only put half a hotdog in hers.

Anyway... what seemed to be totally kid friendly food... and only Jon and I wanted any of it!

Crescent Chili Cheese Dog Boats
1 package crescent rolls
4 hotdogs (your favorite kind)
1 can of chili (or your own homemade)
shredded cheddar cheese

Carefully unroll the crescent rolls. Separate the dough into 4 rectangles and pinch the seams through the middles closed.

Spoon a little chili onto each rectangle. Top with a hotdog and then some cheese. Pull all the corners of the dough towards the center and pinch to seal. They won't close all the way... add more cheeses to the opening.

Bake in an oven preheated to 375F for 12 to 15 minutes. Until dough is golden.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is what you need.

Carefully unroll the dough to make 4 triangles and pinch the center seams to seal.

Add some chili.

Add the hotdogs.

Some shredded cheese.

Pull the corners toward the center and pinch to seal.

I noticed they were lookin' a little empty... so I decided they should have more cheese.

That's better!

Then into the oven for 12 - 15 minutes, until the dough is golden and everything is heated through.

These were so easy!

Mmmmm... melty, cheesy, chiliy goodness... wrapped in crescent dough!

Win!

I think the October recipe is Garlic Stuffed Olives baked in some kinda dough. I'm not typically an olive fan, with the exception of Erin's Olive Cheese Balls OMG DROOL... so I probably won't be making the October recipe. But maybe I'll change the calendar in a timely manner and November will have a cool recipe. We'll just have to wait and see!

Pumpkin Mudslide

2011-09-26T15:49:00.000-04:00

It's finally fall! My favorite season! Hmmm... maybe my favorite season is winter... I'm not sure, I just know that I love fall! Gone are the hot humid sweaty sticky days of summer and they're replaced with cool days, cooler nights, leaves changing color and the smell of fireplaces burning in the evening.

It just makes me want to inhale deeply, close my eyes and say "ahhhhhhh".

My sister, Jeannie has a cocktail for every occasion. She made Pumpkin Mudslides this weekend... what sounds more perfect for fall than a Pumpkin Mudslide?

Pumpkin Mudslide
Equal parts
Pumpkin Spice Schnapps or Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur
Kaluha
Vanilla Vodka
Splash of milk (however much or little as you like)

Shake with ice and enjoy!!

The first one I tried had Pumpkin Spice Schnapps.

The second one had Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur.

These are both wicked good!! But if you make it with Fulton's Harvest Pumpkin Pie Cream Liqueur, it really does taste just like pumpkin pie!

I highly recommend you give this a try in the very near future!!

Happy Fall!!

Root Beer Cookies

2011-09-21T12:01:00.002-04:00

Hey look who it is! I'm back twice in one week!

I bookmarked this recipe about a year ago. It's been just sitting in my favorites, patiently waiting for me to finally decide it was time to make them.

I'm not sure how I happened to browse to it. But I found it on a Betty Crocker blog, who noted it was from the Minneapolis Star Tribune Food Section.

My son Bobby LOVES root beer. He drinks gallons of the stuff. So when I saw this recipe, I knew I had to make them.

Root Beer Cookies slightly adapted
Cookies
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup flat root beer
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon root beer extract or concentrate
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons flat root beer
2 teaspoon butter, softened
1 teaspoon root beer extract or concentrate

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Cream together, butter and sugars. Add eggs and mix. Add root beer, root beer concentrate and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture, until just combined.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls, about 2 inches apart, onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake at 375F for 9 - 11 minutes. Cool on rack.

For icing, whisk together all ingredients and spread over completely cooled cookies.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, first what you wanna do is make the root beer flat.

I poured it into a glass and just stirred until most of the bubbles were gone.

Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Cream butter & sugars, add eggs, then rootbeer, rootbeer concentrate & vanilla.

Mix in flour until just combined.

Drop by spoonfuls onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 9 - 11 minutes at 375F.

Cool on racks.

To make icing whisk together all icing ingredients and spread over cookies. I think next time I might leave out the butter. I think the icing would look a little smoother without it.

These cookies were really good! I wasn't sure what to expect from a root beer flavored cookie. I've only had root beer or root beer flavored candy; but never a baked good.

For the concentrate... since I was having a hard time finding it, I was going to just cook down some root beer until it was a thick sticky syrup, but since I had never seen the concentrate, I wasn't sure if that would work. Now I think it would have been totally fine. So if you're having trouble finding the concentrate, you could try to just cook it down from root beer.

Before icing the cookies, I tasted one. I wanted to see how much root beer flavor was in the cookie itself, because I was thinking they might be better with a vanilla glaze to make them root beer float cookies. The cookie itself had a mild root beer flavor, so you do definitely want to use the root beer icing. I was a little nervous about the icing too. I tasted that on its own and it was really strong. I was afraid it would ruin the cookies, but it was really perfect! They totally taste like root beer cookies!

If you wanted to try to make a rootbeer float cookie, I think maybe you could swirl the root beer icing with a vanilla icing. I'll have to experiment with that the next time.

But everyone really liked these. At first I was thinking.... "yeah, they're good, but I probably won't make them again." It was mostly the novelty of them. But they really are good! And they're really different. They're be great for a cookie exchange. Something than the same old sugar/chocolate chip/butter cookie.

If you like root beer, I highly recommend you try these!

Hotdogs & Beans aka Saturday Night Supper

2011-09-19T11:57:00.000-04:00

Hiya! I know last time I was here, I said I'd be around more, then I promptly fell off the face of the Earth! As it turned out I had an unexpectedly, unbelievably hectic summer and did almost no cooking at all. Just ask my family... they'll totally back me up on the no cooking thing!

Anyway, I'm back! I think. I kinda hesitate to say that again. But well, here I am!

Soooo.... I was out on Saturday at Market District in Robinson to see FoodTV's Aarón Sanchez do a cooking demo and get him to autograph his new cookbook. He's totally my favorite Chopped judge.

That was a fun time. Aarón commented on how well stocked the grocery store was. While I was in line waiting for an autograph, I noticed they do have a very well stocked meat department.

I wasn't looking for Python... but if it hadn't been $30 a pound, I definitely would have tried some!

But after the demo, I figured in this extremely well stocked grocery store, it would be easy for me to find Root-beer Concentrate and Malted Milk Powder. I needed them for a couple of new recipes I wanted to try over the weekend. Those aren't really unusual ingredients. But do you think they had either of them? No. They didn't.

But on my way out of the store, I noticed they had B&M Brown Bread!

That instantly made me think of Saturday night suppers growing up. I say suppers, because back then, that's what we called it. I don't think I really use that word anymore, now it's always dinner.

Anyway, growing up just outside of Boston, hotdogs and beans was a very common Saturday night supper in our house. I don't really remember actually having Brown Bread... but definitely remember the hot dogs & beans. Mum always boiled the hotdogs. I know many of you are totally cool with that... but I don't ever want to eat a boiled hot dog again. Fried, grilled, baked, microwaved, just not boiled. I really have no reason for this, other than boiling meat just seems wrong.

But not being able to actually recall consuming the Brown Bread prompted me to give Mum a call this morning to ask if we had it. She said that she never made it, but that my sister and I probably had it at Grammy's house. When we were little, Saturday night was date night for my parents, so we spent most Saturday nights with Grammy & Grampy. I only remember steamed clams (drool), HeeHaw, Lawrence Welk and All in the Family... so I emailed Jeannie to see if she remembered the Brown Bread. She didn't either. But Jeannie's not a big bread eater to start with. So I have no idea why Saturday Night Suppers popped into my mind at the first glimpse of B&M Brown Bread, but it did!

I snatched the can off of the top shelf and headed over to the baked bean section. Of course I had to have some B&M Baked Beans to go with the Brown Bread. Do you think they had any B&M Baked Beans? Nope! Not a single can! So I grabbed a can of Giant Eagle brand and headed for the checkout.

I opted to fry the hotdogs in butter. Definitely no boiling of hotdogs in my house!

Then browned the buns in butter too.

Meanwhile, I heated up some of that B&M Brown Bread in the toaster oven.

Serve it with a bowlful of baked beans and a nice warm slice of brown bread and it's ~~dinner~~ supper time!

Yum...

Beans on brown bread! My favorite part of ~~dinner~~ supper!

So it was a nice nostalgic Saturday Supper, followed by a movie night.

I had leftover beans & brown bread for breakfast on Sunday too!

Are you from New England? Did you have Saturday Suppers of Hotdogs & Beans & Brown Bread?

Sonic Fritos Chili Cheese Wrap

2011-06-28T15:45:00.001-04:00

Hey there! Remember me? Spryte... from Spryte's Place...? I mostly post about what's going on in my kitchen? Yes!! THAT Spryte! I knew you'd remember me eventually!

Sorry for my long absence.

While I've been gone, we bought a new (to us) house and moved up the hill from our old house. So I have a new kitchen. There's great light for pictures. But I'm still kind of getting used to it.

We're also fixing up our old house to rent. So that takes up ~~a lot~~ most of our spare time. And in addition to that, I started a new job! Unfortunately, I work a later shift that gets me home more than an hour later than I used to. Plus I take the bus to work, so I can't stop at the grocery store on my way home anymore. Now I have to plan my menus a week at a time and only go grocery shopping once a week. Dinners haven't really been very blog-worthy, mostly quick meals, that I've already blogged about.

So that giant pile of ~~reasons~~ excuses is why I've been MIA.

Anyway... my posting will be a bit sporadic for a while longer, but I'm hoping to be back on track in the kinda near future.

So anyway.... here I am, with a nice customer service story and a quick delicious copy-cat recipe!

I use a lot of flour tortillas, as you've probably noticed. I used to mostly use Mission Flour Tortillas. But my local Giant Eagle grocery store stopped carrying them and now only sells their own brand. I gave them a try, mostly because they were the only ones available. But I was pleasantly surprised to discover that I liked them as much or more than Mission brand. They are thinner and more pliable. But, there was a problem. The plastic zipper that closed the bag malfunctioned. It pulled away from the plastic, so there was no way to reseal it. And it didn't just happen with one package, it happened with several. So sent an email to company and let them know.

A couple weeks later, I got a phone call from their rep. He said that they had done some testing and couldn't duplicate the problem. I told him I understood and actually, even though I'd had 5 or 6 faulty packages, the package I had at the moment was working just fine. He asked if it was ok if he sent me some gift cards. What was I gonna say? No?? So of course I said, "yes". Then he said he'd also like to send me a few packages of tortillas for my trouble. I also accepted that offer.

In a couple of days, I got $20 in Giant Eagle gift cards. That was cool and very quick. Then a few days after that there was a package on my front porch (cuz I have a front porch now!) I had forgotten all about the tortillas and was impatiently waiting for some used paperbacks I ordered from Amazon. The box was a little big for paperbacks, but I figured there must be packing in there. When I picked up the box, it was WAY too heavy to be two paperbacks and I couldn't imagine what was in there.

I opened it up and discovered a whole case of Giant Eagle Flour Tortillas!

A case is 18 packages of 6 flour tortillas each!! That's a lot of tortillas!

I don't want to freeze them, because I think frozen bread products never come out of the freezer as good as they went in. I know many disagree and they are free to try to trick me with thawed bread products, but until that day, that's how I feel about freezing that kind of stuff.

So first thing, I gave away a bunch!

The day before the tortillas arrived, I made Easy Skillet Chili, so Tawny suggested I make Sonic Fritos Chili Cheese Wraps!

I LOVE those things!!!

In addition to these.

You'll need these.

Your favorite chili, Fritos, and shredded cheese. I used Colby/Jack.

Warm your tortilla in the microwave for a few seconds.

See how thin it is!

Place some shredded cheese on the tortilla.

Add some Fritos.

Then some chili.

Now roll it up!

Enjoy!

Normally I would never neatly cut a Fritos Chili Wrap... but a picture with a big bite out of it is just not very pretty!

What would have made this Fritos Chili Cheese Wrap better?

A Route 44 Cherry Limeade of course!!!

Giant Eagle, thanks for the awesome customer service!!!

Chocolate Guinness Cake with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting

2011-03-01T13:54:00.000-05:00

I've been wanting to make more cakes from scratch. Jon likes cakes from a box mix. They are his preference. So when there's an 'occasion' I typically make what he requests.

But we had friends over for dinner this past weekend and it just happened to be Drew's birthday. So I decided to make them my cake guinea pigs. Actually, there really is no shortage of volunteers for this position, but it's easier when they come to my house.

With St Patrick's Day coming up, I went with the Guinness Stout Chocolate Cake and frosted it with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting.

This is a Nigella Lawson recipe. I used a different frosting than the one included with the recipe, so I've left out that part. The Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting recipe is from Food.com

Chocolate Guinness Cake
1 cup Guinness stout
10 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/8 cup unsweetened cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar (I used granulated)
3/8 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F
Pour the Guinness into a large sauce pan. Add butter and heat until melted. Whisk in cocoa and sugar. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Add to sauce pan and mix well. Add flour and baking soda and whisk until smooth.
Pour into a greased, parchment paper lined 9 in springform pan. Bake for 45 - 60 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack.
Move to cake plate and top with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting.

Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
4 TBLS butter, room temperature
3 cups powdered sugar
3 - 4 TBLS Bailey's Irish Cream

In a medium bowl, blend together cream cheese, butter, and Bailey's. Gradually add powdered sugar, mixing well until it's all incorporated. Use immediately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First you need some Guinness. Jon doesn't care for Guinness, so it's not something we keep on hand. We picked this one up at Smokin' Joe's.

Even though he doesn't care for Guinness, he took one for the team and finished it for me, since I only needed a cup.

Pour one cup of Guinness into a large sauce pan with the butter. Heat until butter is melted.

Turn off heat when butter is melted.

Whisk in cocoa

I used Dutch Process Cocoa from Penzey's.

And sugar

I didn't have superfine sugar, so I used granulated. It seemed to work out fine.

Whisk together eggs, sour cream & vanilla

Whisk that into the chocolate stout mixture

Then whisk in the flour and baking soda until smooth

Line a 9 in springform pan with parchment paper and butter the sides

Pour cake batter into prepared pan

Bake at 350F for 45 - 60 minutes

Cool in pan on wire rack until completely cooled

No worries about the grand canyon around the edge, it will get covered with frosting.

Move to cake plate and top with Bailey's Irish Cream Frosting.

If you look at the two previous pictures, you'll notice that the middle of the cake has sunk a bit. It probably could have cooked a few more minutes, but the pick came out dry, so I took it out. I'm pretty new to this cake from scratch thing.

Anyway...

A few tablespoons of Bailey's from a mini and you still have a little left for later.

Beat butter, cream cheese & Bailey's until well combined. Beat in powdered sugar.

Top the cake with a generous covering of the frosting.

I have to say... this frosting is amazingly delicious!
LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!

So the middle definitely could have been done more.

I typically don't care for chocolate, but I had a small piece and it's delicious!

You get just a hint of the stout flavor.

Very thick, rich, moist decadent cake.

I really can't recommend it enough. Everyone really loved it!

Bubble Pizza

2011-02-28T15:41:00.000-05:00

I'd seen Bubble Pizza floating around the interwebs and it's been on my list of 'things to make' for a little while now.

I needed something to feed my pack of teens, plus Jon & me on Friday night. I also didn't want to spend a fortune on it. Then I remembered Bubble Pizza.

Bubble Pizza
2 (12 oz) cans refrigerated buttermilk biscuits
1 (14 oz) jar of pizza sauce (Or your own homemade pizza sauce)
1 lb ground Italian sausage, cooked & drained
1/4 lb sliced pepperoni
1/4 lb bacon, cooked drained & diced (microwave bacon is perfect for this)
1 1/2 - 2 C shredded mozzarella/provolone cheese blend
1 C shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 400F.
Grease a 13 x 9 baking dish.
Open canned biscuits and cut each uncooked biscuit into 4 pieces and put them into a large bowl. Toss with pizza sauce until well coated. Add sausage, pepperoni and bacon and mix well. Pour into greased baking dish. Top with shredded cheese.

Bake at 400F for 20 - 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cut up the biscuits in to quarters and place in a large bowl.

Add pizza sauce

Toss until well coated

Stir in the cooked sausage, bacon and pepperoni

Ok... that's not very pretty, but pour it into the greased baking dish and bake 20 - 25 minutes.

I missed the timer and this was a little more cooked than intended. But I like my pizza cooked well anyway!

I made the Meat Lovers version

And I made one with Pepperoni & Pepperonicinis

I'll be honest with you. The dinner reviews were kinda mixed. No one disliked it. I think one or two kids did like it. But everyone mostly thought it was just ok. I was a little disappointed, because it sounded like a fun easy dinner. And it DOES feed a lot! I doubled the recipe to make two different kinds, but we had about a full pan left, between the two of them. And my crew can really roll through pizza! So this really does feed a lot. One pan will definitely satisfy 4 teens & 2 adults.

But the good news is, it's an awesome room temperature leftover! So much tastier that way!

If I knew I had a swarm of hungry teens descending on the house later, this is definitely something I'd make ahead and cut into squares for their arrival.

So there ya go. Not a fail... and it made a very nice comeback as a leftover!

Finally ~ A Recipe Index!

2011-02-24T16:05:00.000-05:00

It's taken me a couple of weeks, but I finally finished putting together a Recipe Index for Spryte's Place!

No offense blogger, but the tags & search that come with blogger, aren't really user friendly for the readers.

You can now click the Recipe Index button at the top of the right column.
Over there and up a little ~~>>

I hope that makes browsing Spryte's Place a little easier when you're looking for something specific.

Now I can get back to putting put recipes.

Enjoy!

Kidney Bean Relish

2011-02-14T14:32:00.000-05:00

I was at my sister's house for Thanksgiving last year. On the appetizer table, I was surprised to see Kidney Bean Relish from Century House in Peabody, MA. I love that stuff! We get it every time we go there. Which is pretty often. I love the Mussels Margueray... the Steak Tips are great too... as is the Lobster Pie! Actually... I noticed online they are pretty well known for their breakfasts. I'll have to give that a try next time I'm in town! Anyway... they used to serve the Kidney Bean Relish with Crackers free, at every table. It's not free anymore, actually it's not even on the menu. But you can still order (and pay for) it, which we always do. But you can also buy it in their Epicurean Shoppe, which boasts, "delightful selection of our most delicious dishes, oven-ready to take home, lets you have a healthy home-style meal in less than a half hour!" If you've picked up the Kidney Bean Relish, it won't even take that long. You just have to remove the lid and enjoy. But since I no longer live anywhere near Peabody, I had to try to recreate it. And I think I have it pretty close!

Kidney Bean Relish
1 (16 oz) can kidney beans, drained & rinsed
1/2 C sour cream
2 TBLS red onion, finely chopped
2 TBLS thousand island dressing
1 TBLS +1 tsp prepared horseradish
1 small clove garlic, grated
2 shakes of Tabasco sauce
1 or 2 shakes worcestershire sauce

Combine all ingredients, gently so you don't crush the beans. Refrigerate several hours, overnight is best. Enjoy on buttery crackers.

That's it! So easy & tasty!

Press Drop Cookies (that's Spritz Cookies to the rest of the world)

2011-02-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

These are cookies that are made with a cookie press. I've had a few different styles of cookie press over the years, but I have to say my absolute favorite is the old style one my mom had. I ended up getting this beautiful tool on eBay a couple years ago.

My first cookie press was the ratchet style.

Then I had a couple of electric ones.

I hated the electric cookie press and to a lesser degree the ratchet style. The dough from the ratcheted press never seemed to come out at a consistent rate. The electric ones were even worse. I like the nice even turn of the screw from my vintage press.

Anyway... these cookies have been on Mum's Christmas Cookie trays for as long as I can remember. I know, you're saying, "Come on now Spryte, it's almost Valentine's Day." But really, even though I've only made these cookies at Christmas time, I'm going to make a concentrated effort to make them throughout the year this year!

The cookie discs are definitely usable for the whole year!

The only problem is I tend to forget which cookie discs I actually have. None of the discs from my previous presses are interchangeable and sometimes I end up looking for a disc from the past.

These are my current discs.

Of course there's the star for cheese straws and the little spikey line thing for bar cookies.

I have all the suites from a deck of cards. I could be making these every time we have friends over for an evening of cards & food.

The hearts and flowers would be great for Valentine's Day.

Butterflies & flowers are good all spring and summer, plus tea parties or bridal showers, or the Cookie Table at a wedding.

The dog, well.. maybe you could make some as a gift for your dog walker or vet... or those hard working people at the humane society.

The camel... hmmm... ummmmm... ok... I know! Hump Day! Everyone needs special cookies for Wednesday right?

I've been making these my whole life and I know this will sound dumb, but I only found out they were called Spritz Cookies within the past couple of years! Mum always called them Press Drop Cookies. So that's what I call them!

Press Drop Cookies
1 C shortening
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 tsp extract (almost is my favorite)
2 1/4 C flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375F
Cream together shortening, sugar, egg and extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into shortening & sugar mixture until completely blended. I always color the dough. So when it's thoroughly mixed, add food coloring and mix until desired color is reached. Select a shape, load dough into barrel of cookie press. Press cookies out onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. Decorate with jimmies or colored sugars if desired. Bake at 375F for 7 - 10 minutes. Cool on racks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So cream together shortening, sugar, egg and extract. I almost always use almond, but really, you can use whatever you like! Lemon, peppermint, rootbeer, coconut, butter... it's totally up to you... ya know... just typing this out kinda makes me wanna change it up a little next time!

Mix in the flour mixture.

Time for color!

Green, Red & Blue

I was making Green for Christmas trees, Red for Poinsettias, and Blue for ummm.. for some reason I was thinking they were going to be Stars.. but they turned out to be diamonds... so Blue Diamonds! (aren't there Blue Diamonds in Lucky Charms?)

It takes a lot of mixing to get the colors worked through the dough.

But it does eventually get blended.

Insert your disc of choice.

Load the barrel with the appropriately colored dough.

Screw down the press until dough is firmly packed in the barrel.

I find 1/3 of a turn to be the perfect amount for this dough.

You can sprinkle with sugars or jimmies or other decorations if you like.

Bake at 375F for 7 - 10 minutes and cool on racks.

Enjoy!

These are definitely one of my kids favorite cookies. They'll be pretty psyched to see them pop up throughout the year.

Hey! I just thought of another occasion for the diamond shaped cookie!!

Yellow, Red & Blue Diamonds...

Go Steelers!!

Carrot Cake

2011-02-03T09:00:00.018-05:00

This has been sitting in my big pile of things I need to post since September. But since today is National Carrot Cake Day, I decided I should dust it off and get it posted!

I'll start by saying, I'm not really a Carrot Cake fan. It's not something I'd typically select of my own volition. I might select a Carrot Cake Cupcake, if my only other choice was Chocolate. But it's just not really ever going to be one of my top choices.

I was trying to be all stealthy to find out my friend Erin's favorite kinda cake for her birthday. So I asked her husband, who in turn asked her and told me it was Carrot Cake. Heck, I coulda done that! Ok... so it ended up not being so stealthy, but at least I found out. I don't know if Jon would know my favorite cake either. Actually, since I mostly don't really care for cake, he'd probably come up with something like, "Is this a trick question??" Jon... what's my favorite cake?? Let's see what he says. And you can't ask if it's a trick question!

Anyway... I needed to find a Carrot Cake recipe for Erin. I asked my sister Jeannie and she provided me with her go-to Carrot Cake recipe. She thinks it's a McCall's Cooking School Recipe.

Carrot Cake
3 C flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 lb carrots
1 C butter, softened
1 C light-brown sugar, packed
1 C granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 TBLS grated lemon peel
2 TBLS grated orange peel
2 TBLS lemon juice
2 TBLS orange juice
1 C walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 C seedless raisins (I'm pretty sure I left these out)
1 - 2 C walnuts, coarsely chopped (I added this to the stick to the frosting)

Lightly grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans. Whisk flour with baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

Wash and peel carrots; grate on medium grater, or use coarse blade of food processor. Should measure 4 cups.

Preheat oven to 350F.

In large bowl of mixer, at high speed, beat butter and brown and granulated sugars, occasionally scraping side of bowl with rubber scraper, until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition until smooth and light.

In measuring cup, combine lemon and orange peels and juices. At low speed, beat in flour mixture, in fourths, alternately with lemon-orange mixture, in thirds, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until smooth, about 1 minute.

With wooden spoon, stir in grated carrot, 1 cup of nuts and raisins, mix well. Turn into prepared cake pans; spread evenly. Bake 50 - 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Cool in pans on wire rack 20 minutes, to cool slightly.

Gently loosen edge of cake with a spatula. Turn out of pans onto a rack. When cakes are completely cooled, frost layers of cake with cream cheese frosting. Press chopped walnuts around sides of cake.

Cream Cheese Frosting from allrecipes.com
2 (8 ounce) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/2 C butter, softened
2 C sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the confectioners' sugar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Wash and peel carrots; grate on medium grater, or use coarse blade of food processor. Should measure 4 cups.

In measuring cup, combine lemon and orange peels and juices.

In large bowl of mixer, at high speed, beat butter and brown and granulated sugars

I totally wish my mixer had a dome light

Add eggs, one at a time; beat well after each addition until smooth and light.

Now alternate adding the flour mixture then the juice mixture until it's all mixed in.

Add the carrots, 1 cup of nuts and raisins, if you used raisins.

Pour into greased cake pans; spread evenly

Bake 50 - 60 minutes at 350F or until pick comes out clean

Cool on racks.

Mine did stick a little, but this moist cake stuck back together nicely.

Whip up the cream cheese frosting.

When cakes are completely cooled, frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Not very pretty is it?

That's why I decided to chop up a couple more cups of walnuts to stick to the sides of the cake!

Voila!

A gazillion times better!

This was definitely a moist and tasty cake. The texture was excellent. But it was a very citrusy cake. Obviously right? With all that lemon & orange zest & juice! Even though I almost never eat Carrot Cake, when I think of it, I think of a spicy cake... lots of cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, I dunno, more spices. This cake definitely didn't have it. But it was still a delicious cake. Just not really what I was thinking when I thought about Carrot Cake.

Now the frosting... WOW!!! LOVE LOVE LOVED the frosting. It wasn't wicked sweet. It was more cheesy like cheesecake! Sooooo yummy!!!

Today is National Carrot Cake Day! Wanna change it up from the spicy kinda Carrot Cake... or all those Carrot Cakes that have pineapple in them? Give this one a try! All that citrus really brightens up a dark cold winter day!

Super Bowl Food!

2011-02-02T10:00:00.001-05:00

Super Bowl Sunday is fast approaching! Have you put together your menu yet?

I haven't! I'm such a procrastinator!

I do know there will be wings on the menu... but other than that, I guess I should start thinking about it!

Here's a sampling of some of our favorite football foods.

Number One favorite has to be wings.

Chicken Wings & Wing Sauces
Three really hot sauces, wings & a blue cheese dip.

(Wow! That's an old pic!! I'll have to take a newer one to update that post.)

Roasted Asian Chicken Wings
Sticky & delicious!

Honey Curry Wings
Not spicy... also sticky & delicious!

Sausage Balls
These savory little bites disappear quickly!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Creamy & tangy... good hot or cold.

Empanadas
Spicy little meat pockets.

Baked Rachel Dip
Creamy cheesy flavorful dip on little rye toasts.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers
Cheesy, spicy, delicious and not fried!

I'm sure a couple of those will be gracing our table as well!

So what are your favorite football foods?

Go Steelers!!!

Banana Bread Cobbler

2011-02-01T09:00:00.001-05:00

These were sitting on the counter.

Tawny wanted me to make Banana Pudding Pie but I didn't have any heavy cream.

My friend CaSeYmOm had posted about Banana Bread Cobbler that she'd made and how good it was. Then everyone started making it and posting about how good it was. I decided that would be the perfect use for my very ripe bananas. CaSeYmOm found this recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens 9x13 The Pan That Can cookbook, page 378.

Banana Bread Cobbler
1 cup self rising flour
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 medium bananas, peeled and sliced
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

1. Grease a 13x9 baking pan or baking dish;set aside. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. In a medium bowl stir together the 1 cup self rising flour and the granulated sugar;add milk, melted butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Spread evenly in the prepared pan or dish. Top with sliced bananas.

3. In a large bowl combine oats, brown sugar and the 1/2 cup self rising flour. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/2 cup butter until crumbly. Stir in walnuts. Sprinkle mixture over bananas. Bake uncovered, for 25-30 minutes or until browned and set. Cool in pan or dish on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Makes 12 to 18 servings.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mix up the 1 cup self rising flour, granulated sugar, melted butter, milk & vanilla.

Pour that into the greased 9x13 pan.

Top with sliced bananas.

Combine oats, brown sugar, 1/2 cup self rising flour, walnuts, cut in 1/2 cup butter, until crumbly.

Sprinkle evenly over sliced bananas.

Bake at 375F for 30 minutes or until browned & set.

Cool 30 minutes, top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream and enjoy!

Everyone LOVED this! My husband almost never eats bananas, but tried and loved this. Ryan wasn't sure if he'd like it, so he requested a small piece, but he loved it too! Tawny & Lilly loved it! Bob isn't a fan of this kinda thing so he just passed on it. I thought it was awesome! This is so fast and easy and it's a nice alternative to banana bread for those ripe bananas!

Actually, I think I might try the oat topping from this on my next banana bread! Stay tuned!

Brandy Alexander

2011-01-31T14:57:00.000-05:00

Today is National Brandy Alexander Day!

Who proclaims these days? I have no idea! But I was checking out the upcoming food holidays yesterday and thought... "What's a Brandy Alexander?"

I knew it was a cocktail. I knew I had some brandy. Maybe I could make one!

Brandy Alexander
1 1/2 oz brandy
1 oz creme de cocoa
1 oz half & half

Fill shaker half way with ice. Pour all ingredients into shaker. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.
Enjoy!

I even made this myself! Typically Jon is the bar master our house. But I read about it, checked to see if we had everything, then just set out to make it!

It's pretty tasty! Happy National Brandy Alexander Day!

Old School Grilled Cheese Sandwich

2011-01-27T10:00:00.002-05:00

I love to make fun grilled cheese sandwiches, with different kinds of cheeses, herbs, veggies anything really to make it interesting.

But sometimes I just want an Old School Grilled Cheese Sandwich. For me, that's white bread and white American cheese. Not that orange, processed, individually wrapped American cheese stuff.
Actual American Cheese... from the deli.

That's what I made tonight.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich
2 slices white bread
2 or 3 slices real American cheese
butter, room temperature

Spread butter on one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice of bread, buttered side down in a skillet over medium heat. Top with cheese slices. Cover with remaining slice of bread, buttered side up. Cook until golden and flip. When golden on both sides, remove from pan and enjoy!

Real cheese

Buttered white bread

One slice, buttered side down and topped with cheese

Cover with remaining slice of bread, buttered side up

Flip when desired level of golden goodness is reached

For me this could be right up until almost burned

When the other side is a golden match, you're done!

Now when I mention the Old School Grilled Cheese Sandwich, most people instantly want a bowl of tomato soup with it. I've never had tomato soup with my grilled cheese. My mom never made it. So tonight I called her to ask her why. She said, back then she really wasn't much of a soup fan. I can remember her making turkey & rice soup after a turkey dinner, but really no other soups from scratch. We did have a selection of Campbell's soups in the cabinet. Most chicken noodle or chicken and stars, that kinda thing.

So I never had tomato soup. It seems like something I would like. I love tomatoes, tomato sauces, ketchup, most anything you can do with tomatoes. But so far, I've never tried a tomato soup that I liked!! And I only started trying tomato soup as a tomato loving adult. So it really is disappointing that I haven't found one that I like.

The Old School Grilled Cheese Sandwiches of my youth were most likely served with chips... on a paper towel!

Anyway... I thought the Old School Grilled Cheese Sandwich was deserving of it's very own post!

So there you have it!!

Old School Grilled Cheese!!

Knorr Spinach Dip

2011-01-26T10:54:00.000-05:00

This is another one of my very favorite dips!! I remember first making Knorr Spinach Dip more than 10 years ago. I was staying with my friend Debbie and I think we made it for a party. We liked it so much, we made some more and just kept it in the fridge to snack on at will! Which really isn't such a great idea, because it's completely irresistible! It's really easy to eat an entire bowl!

Whenever I make this dip I think of Debbie.

Knorr Spinach Dip
1 pkg (10 oz) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1 container (16 oz) sour cream
1 C mayonnaise
1 pkg Knorr® Vegetable recipe mix
1 can (8 oz.) water chestnuts, drained and chopped
3 green onions, chopped

Combine all ingredients and chill for at least 2 hours. I usually serve this in a hollowed out loaf of round bread, with slices of baguette.

This is what you need.

Stir the mayo and sour cream together.

Add the Knorr Vegetable Soup mix, spinach, water chestnuts and green onions.

Stir that all together & chill at least two hours.

Serve in a hollowed out bread bowl.

I couldn't find a round one, so I used a football shaped Olive Oil Bread.

I like to serve this with sliced baguettes, but you can serve it with crisp veggies or whatever you like!

This is definitely a favorite in my house. Ok... I KNOW Tawny & I love it. I'm not entirely sure about everyone else. But I haven't had any complaints. Honestly, I like to make little sandwiches out out it.

If you're having a tea party, you could totally use this to make little creamy tea sandwiches.

Or, it would be perfect for your Super Bowl Party!

Go Steelers!!!

Potato Leek Soup

2011-01-20T15:59:00.000-05:00

Do you ever plan meals around a small component of the meal?

Yesterday, my pulchritudinous friend, Erin posted on Facebook that she was making Beer Bread. Wait, what? What the heck is pulchritudinous? Well, sometimes I worry that I use the same words over and over, so I consult the thesaurus to mix things up a little and occasionally learn a new word in the process. I was going to call Erin my lovely friend. Which she is, inside and out. But for fun, I decided to peruse other words for lovely. There's quite a selection actually and most of them would have been perfectly acceptable substitutes for lovely. I knew all of them, except pulchritudinous. Ya know how your brain kinda picks out letters, even when jumbled and can come up with the right word? Well, since my brain had never come in contact with the word pulchritudinous, I think it converted it to putrid. Not very flattering, when you're looking for a substitute for lovely. So I had to look it up. It means physically beautiful. Erin is more than that, but I decided to use it today anyway, because maybe some of you don't know what pulchritudinous means, and if you read it somewhere, I wouldn't want you thinking it's putrid, since it's quite the opposite. Ok. English lesson over.

So my lovely (yeah, I went back to lovely, it really does describe her better than pulchritudinous) friend Erin, posted on Facebook that she was making Beer Bread. This was kinda late to mid afternoon and up until that time, it was looking like dinner was going to be FFY (Fend For Yourself) at my house. But Beer Bread wormed its way into my brain and I HAD to make it. But I couldn't just make Beer Bread for dinner, could I? Well, I'd be totally cool just eating it for dinner, but if I'm going to claim I'm making dinner, I should make more than just beer bread right?

So I was trying to decide what would go great with Beer Bread. Someone had mentioned Broccoli Cheese Soup. That sounded kinda good, but it just wasn't clicking. So I was in my car, on my way home trying to think of what to make and Potato Leek Soup popped into my head. That did sound good. But I'd never made it before so I wasn't really sure what goes in it. I decided it couldn't be much more than potatoes, leeks, maybe some chicken stock, a little cream... I'll just wing it and headed to the grocery store.

Making Beer Bread from scratch is wicked easy and wicked delicious. But I had a mix in the cabinet that was a gift that I wanted to use up. So I grabbed the Beer Bread Mix & Penn Brewery St. Nikolaus Bock.

You know when you shake a beer and then open it, it kind of explodes? Well, that didn't happen with the beer. But it DID happen with the Beer Bread Mix!!! I opened it and was the floury mix sprayed all over me and the kitchen! I think it was only a couple tablespoons worth. But what a mess!! I still just added the whole bottle of beer and baked according to the directions and it came out fine. It was tasty. But homemade is definitely the way to go. I thought I already had beer bread on Spryte's Place, but I can't find it anywhere! I know the recipe I've used in the past is from that little minx, Donna over at My Tasty Treasures. Her recipe does not disappoint!

Anyway... I put that into the oven and started on the soup!

Potato Leek Soup
2 leeks, sliced
2 lbs potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, grated
1 qt chicken stock
1/4 C butter
2 C half & half
salt & pepper
chives (to garnish if desired)

Slice & rinse the leeks very well, they're good at hiding sand! In a stock pot, saute the leeks in the butter. Add grated garlic and cook a minute or two. Add chopped potatoes, chicken stock salt & pepper and bring to a boil. Stir in half & half. Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. With an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Ladle into bowls, sprinkle with snipped chives and enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is what you need.

Saute those beautiful (pulchritudinous) leeks in butter.

Add grated garlic.

Add chicken stock & potatoes and salt & pepper.

Bring to a boil.

Add half & half & simmer for about 30 minutes until potatoes are tender.

Blend with immersion blender until smooth.

Ladle into bowls, garnish with chives and enjoy with a nice thick slice of beer bread!

This was a really tasty and delicious soup!

Bob wasn't interested in trying it, but Jon & I really enjoyed it. I definitely prefer thin soups, but this had a creamy silky texture and a savory delicate flavor. It was the perfect vehicle for my beer bread!

Go Steelers!!

Stuffed Peppers & Stuffed Pepper Soup

2011-01-19T16:01:00.000-05:00

Tawny LOVES Stuffed Peppers. Whenever she has them at school, she always sends me a text message about it. And she loves that Stuffed Pepper Soup will always be on the menu the next day.

I only made them once, a long time ago, in the crockpot. And I used Poblanos instead of Bell Peppers... but I have NO idea what I stuffed them with.

I think the reason I've never really made them is because Jon hates peppers. He loves the smell and even likes the flavor. It's a texture thing with him.

Anyway...

I decided to make Stuffed Peppers. I also planned to make a big enough batch to have leftovers, so I could do a follow-up with Stuffed Pepper Soup!

Stuffed Peppers
6 bell peppers
1 1/2 lb ground beef
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 small cans V8
2 (8oz) cans tomato sauce
worcestershire sauce
Italian herbs
tomato paste
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil
3/4 C long grain white rice
1 1/2 C water

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cook rice in water according to direction on rice package.
While the rice is cooking, slice the tops off of the peppers. Discard stems & seeds. Place peppers into a casserole dish, cut side up, so you have pepper cups. Dice pepper tops and saute in a large skillet with a little olive oil and diced onions and minced garlic. Add ground beef, and continue cooking. Stir in cooked rice. Add a few shakes of worcestershire sauce, one can of V8, one can of tomato sauce, a big pinch of Italian herbs and some salt & pepper to taste. In a separate bowl combine remaining tomato sauce & V8, a big squirt of tomato paste, a big pinch of Italian herbs and some pepper. Spoon meat & rice mixture into bell pepper cups. Pour sauce over filled peppers. Bake at 350F for about an hour. Baste occasionally with sauce.
Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Preheat the oven and cook the rice according to directions.

Gosh darnit!! This was a perfect chance to use brown rice without my family knowing it and I totally forgot! Actually... Tawny would happily eat brown rice... my non (limited)-veg eaters tend to be my less adventurous eaters in general. Not that brown rice should be considered adventurous... but dealing with picky eaters can definitely be an adventure...

Anyway... preheat oven... cook rice...

Then start with a pile of peppers.

Slice off the tops.

Set the pepper cups aside in your casserole dish.

Chop the pepper tops.

I saved some of these to add to the soup... but diced up about 3/4C to add to the stuffed pepper filling.

Saute the diced peppers, onions and garlic in a large skillet.

When they start to get soft...

Add ground beef.

When that's mostly cooked, add cooked rice.

Then stir in 1 can V8, 1 can tomato sauce, a few good shakes of worcestershire sauce, Italian herbs and salt and pepper.

See how easy it would have been to hide brown rice in there??

Now fill your pepper cups.

Mix up the remains cans of V8 & tomato sauce with a big squirt of tomato paste, a big pinch of Italian herbs, salt & pepper.

Pour the sauce over the peppers and bake for an hour.

That's it!

It doesn't look as pretty sitting all alone like that

It looked happier, all warm and cozy in the dish with it's oven-mates.

However, they were wicked tasty!

Tawny said the ones at school are cooked in more sauce. She loved these, but I think I would prefer the 'more sauce' version! I'm definitely a gravy kinda girl.

I knew only Tawny, Ryan and I would be eating these. I made 6 because I wanted two left over for soup and one for my co-worker Ed.

Ed really liked his pepper too. He made mashed potatoes to go with it! Why didn't I think of that?? I wanted to make them again right away, just to serve them with mashed potatoes and more sauce!!

But Tawny's back at school, so I'd be stuck eating them all myself! Although when Ed returned my containers, he did say I could refill them and bring them back! hehe

Ok... now on to the soup!

I didn't really ask what the soup was like that Tawny enjoys at school. If it was thin or thick... What else might be in it. I just kinda winged it from the leftovers. There are no measurements for this. But I'll give estimations as I go.

So I started with my two Stuffed Peppers that I saved.

Actually... I started with some of the leftover pepper tops. I cut them into strips and sauteed them with some diced onion.

When those were a little soft, I squeezed the filling out of the peppers into the pot and added 6 cups of veggie stock.

Then I sliced my empty pepper cups.

Oh yeah, Tawny did say there was lots of rice in the soup. Since the filling didn't seem like it would make the soup particularly ricey, I added a quarter cup of uncooked rice. (if you happen to have some cooked rice, you could totally add that instead... or maybe you don't like a lot of rice and it's just fine the way it is!)

My soup was pretty thick, kind of more like a chili consistency... so I added some more veggie stock to thin it out a bit.

I also added a palm full of crushed red pepper flakes to give it a little heat.

That's it!

So when she tried it, Tawny said she liked it to be thicker. Since it's soup... I purposely tried to make it thinner than it was at the start. So I would have been ok without adding the extra stock.

This didn't feel like a homemade croutons on top kinda soup... so I just served with no topping, because I couldn't think of anything else. But at school, Tawny enjoys oyster crackers with her thick stuffed pepper soup. Oyster crackers would have been good, if I'd had any!

Even though it was thin and lacking in oyster crackers, she loved that I added the crushed red pepper for heat (hmmm... maybe Pitt Greensburg can take a lesson... hehehe)

While it was cooking, Jon thought it smelled great and wanted to try some. He only has a spoonful; but he enjoyed it! He was surprised that the peppers didn't offend him as much as he expected.

I also brought some soup to work for Ed. He liked that too! He was surprised by the heat, but liked it. It was just mild and not in any way over-powering.

So these two meals were made specifically with Tawny in mind, but I'm sure she won't read this post.

So there ya go!

Stuffed Peppers two ways!

Oh yeah and Go Steelers!!

Sausage Balls

2011-01-11T14:04:00.000-05:00

Hey! Happy New Year!!!

I hope your holidays were merry!

At my Gingerbread House Decorating Party, the activity itself took up an overwhelming majority of horizontal surface in my small house.

You might have noticed that I LOVE to feed people. There's no way I would invite people over without serving food & beverages; but this time, there would definitely not be any place for anyone to actually sit to eat. So I decided to serve only appetizers that could be eaten from a napkin or a toothpick.

Jeannie's Little Quiches would be perfect... hmmm... but little time for making all the little ones, since I procrastinated the menu until the very last minute. So I made her quiche in a 13x9 pan and cut it into little squares. Totally do-able on a napkin. Plus some dips... some olives/cornichons/onions/marinated mushrooms... what else?

Ah!! Sausage Balls!!

Growing up, every Christmas Eve was open house at our house. Our family and friends would come and go all evening. I can remember Auntie Louie and Uncle Bert (titles earned by being close friends to my parents) teasing my sister and I that we should get to bed so Santa would come...

Oh wait... sorry for the detour...

Sausage Balls... my mom made Sausage Balls for our Christmas Eve open house. I don't know if she made them every year or only once or twice. But they stand out in my mind. When something from my youth stands out so prominently like that, I get a little afraid that the recreation of it can never live up to my memory; but the Sausage Balls did not disappoint!

It's a 3 ingredient recipe, courtesy of Bisquick!

Sausage Balls
2 C Bisquick
10 oz Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 lb Sausage

Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix all ingredients until very well combined. Form into 1.5 inch balls.
Bake at 350F for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
Enjoy!

This is all you need.

You can use whatever sausage you like. I went with Sweet Italian.

Mix all ingredients until very well combined.

The best tool for this is your hands.

Roll them into balls.

Bake on trays for 20 minutes at 350F.

That's it!

Why did I wait so long to make these?? They were so easy and so delicious!!

They totally lived up to my memory!

Ugh... I'm sitting at my desk, typing this, I had a Lean Cuisine for lunch, I'm looking at an apple... and all I want is some Sausage Balls!!

These were definitely a hit!! Bobby LOVED them. They disappeared quickly! I'll definitely be making them again soon. Super Bowl's coming up, they'd be PERFECT for that!!

If you loved these from your past or are just learning about them today, I highly suggest you give them a try!

Gingerbread Houses

2010-12-24T08:30:00.003-05:00

Gingerbread Houses have become a family tradition for me. Most of my family started doing them many years before I did, because I moved across the country when I was 20 and totally missed out on the beginnings of it!

This is a long one... grab a cup of cocoa get cozy!

It started out with my Auntie Mary. My sister used to work Sunday mornings at the local coffee shop. While she was working, my Auntie Mary would watch my nephew Damien. If you're a long time reader of my blog, you met Damien back in my Chilaquiles post.

Anyway... Damien spent Sunday mornings with Auntie Mary and Uncle Joe, and with my cousins Annie and Frank, who are a few years older than him.

One Sunday morning, Auntie Mary thought it would be nice to bake cookies with the kids. Definitely not anything unusual for Auntie Mary. But on this particular Sunday, she decided it might be fun to make a gingerbread house for the kids to decorate.

And so there begins the tradition!

She made the first gingerbread house for the kids to decorate. Apparently, it was a success, because she's been doing it every year since!

She started inviting other little cousins over and it grew and grew until she was making more than 50 gingerbread houses a year!

She also started making a gingerbread manger every year for my grandmother; and my cousin Annie always goes all out on her house making it part of a big winter wonderland scene!

Anyway... when I moved back to Massachusetts, she invited me to bring Tawny and Bobby over to decorate and we were totally hooked!

I love to decorate houses with Auntie Mary whenever I'm in MA. But now I also do them with my kids and our friends and their kids too!

First... you need gingerbread houses.

This is Auntie Mary with a few houses she made!

She uses the Wilton Gingerbread Recipe.

Grandma's Gingerbread Recipe
5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons powdered ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups unsulphured molasses
2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven 375°F. Thoroughly mix flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Melt shortening in large saucepan. Cool slightly. Add sugar, molasses and eggs; mix well. Add four cups of the dry ingredients and mix again.

Turn mixture onto lightly floured surface. Knead in remaining dry ingredients by hand. Add a little more flour, if necessary, to make the dough firm. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 1/4 inch thickness and cut out house pieces with Wilton Gingerbread House cutters or with the attached templates

Bake 6-10 minutes for small to medium size cookies and 10-15 minutes for large cookies.

If you're not going to use your gingerbread right away, wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate. Refrigerated dough will keep for a week, but be sure to remove it 3 hours prior to rolling so it softens and is workable.

Royal Icing - to assemble houses and for decorating
3 level tablespoons Meringue Powder
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approx. 1 lb.)
6 tablespoons water

Beat all ingredients at low speed for 7-10 minutes (10-12 minutes at high speed for portable mixer) until icing forms peaks.

Yields 3 cups of icing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've only made them from scratch once. I have to say, I get intimidated working with dough... but once I get started, I always wonder what I was worried about!

Thoroughly mix flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

Melt shortening in a saucepan.

Add sugar, molasses and eggs; mix well.

Add four cups of the dry ingredients and mix again.

Turn mixture onto lightly floured surface. Knead in remaining dry ingredients by hand.

I cut the dough into sections and wrapped it, so it didn't dry out while I was cutting.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4 inch thickness

I cut templates from a thin plastic cutting board to use as cutting guides.

Click Here for template to roof and sides.

Roof is the rectangular piece. Side is the square piece.

Click Here for template to front/back.

You can cut your own house pieces free hand. You can use the Wilton cutters too. The Wilton cutters do make a bigger house so you will get fewer houses per recipe.

Cut out your pieces.

You will need two of each shape for one house.

Bake at 375F for 10-15 minutes.

Cool on racks.

I cooled them overnight so they had a chance to harden up a bit before assembling the houses.

I had some extra dough... so there are a few cookies too!

Now for assembly!!

This is MUCH easier with an extra pair of hands!

Make the royal icing and use it as glue to hold all of the pieces together. Try to wait about an hour before you put the roofs on. It gives your foundation a chance to harden.

Start with a strip of icing on the bottom of a front/back piece and attach it to your base. I used heavy paper plates for bases this time.

Apply icing to the side and bottom edge of a side piece and attach it to the front/back piece.

Now attached the other front/back piece.

Then the other side.

Auntie Mary adds little candy canes to the corners. I did it when I made them from scratch... but this year I was very short on time... so I cheated and used kits. That only cuts out the baking. You still have to assemble. But I left out the candy canes this year.

I like them both ways... but the candy canes don't really fit the kit pieces.

Some pieces might need to be trimmed at bit to fit together better.

Put together all the bases... then you can start adding roofs.

Not bad for a first time! (don't mind the miscellaneous condiments)

That's the batch I made from scratch last year.

And these I assembled from kits this year.

Now invite your friends and family. Have everyone bring candies to share for decorations... and let the fun begin!!

These are random shots of gingerbread house decorating at my sister's house with Auntie Mary and with my family and friends at my house.

Gingerbread houses make memories that last a lifetime!

Thank you Auntie Mary! I love you!

Merry Christmas everyone!